Here and There

I’m borrowing a page from my good friend Daniel, who moved out east a couple of months ago and has since cataloged several journeys around his area. This is my version of “Bay Area Traveler.”

Some East Bay friends invited us to spend Labor Day low-key hiking in Tilden Regional Park, situated in the hills above UC Berkeley. So we loaded the dogs onto BART (contraband-style, of course), and headed under the Bay to Berkeley, where we were swiftly whisked behind campus and up into the hills. It was my first foray into said “hills,” that naturally occurring boundary between the general Bay Area (Berkeley and Oakland and points south) and the United States of America.

The first thing that struck me was the air. It reminded me of our trip last summer to several national parks in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. There’s something completely indescribable about being at a higher elevation, surrounded by trees and brush (and the occasional wild animal). Not seeing too many other humans around is also key.

Here are a couple of images of what we saw upon arrival and a short hike up (click for slightly larger images in a new window/tab):

After another short hike, we could see to the north and east, toward what I assume to be Martinez and the Carquinez Strait:

As we rose in elevation, the eucalyptus began to dominate:

I turned around to catch amazing, airplane-style views of the city I live in (look closely for Sutro Tower):

Slightly to the northwest, a breathtaking view of the Golden Gate, with Bay waters in the foreground:

We got our breath back in what my friend called “the refrigerator,” a shady area under some eucalyptus where the temperature had to have dropped at least 10 degrees. We decided against having lunch there, opting instead to tread on to the top.

A couple of dog poops later, and we were at the summit. From here, you could fully see the stretch from Carquinez to Pittsburg, as well as the San Pablo Reservoir:

Then, after an amazing lunch of drumettes, lemon pasta, and salad with tomatoes, green beans, tuna, and basil, I snuck around a bend to get my closest glimpse to one of the Bay Area’s premier peaks, Mount Diablo:

All in all, it was a great way to spend Labor Day. It reminded me of a big reason I love living here in the Bay Area: proximity to such amazing natural attractions (for want of a better word). And even though it was sunny in SF that day, there’s no way to get that kind of “kids in summer” heat without leaving the city.

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